"'Catch that cart-colt, and take him down to the farmhouse. They may know him, my lad. And here is a pot of beer for you.' "All good fox-hunters are Good Samaritans, and in this case the life of what proved afterwards to be a most valuable animal was saved by the charitable attention of the gentlemen in scarlet. It was found, when the yokel went up to him to lead him away, that he was standing in a pool of blood, having staked himself severely in the chest. If the wound had not been plugged and promptly attended to, the colt's first day's hunting would have been his last. "Latch-key remained in the quarters he had accidentally dropped into until he was well enough to travel, when he returned to his native home. In addition to a very severe stake, he was otherwise much scarred by the broken plough-harness, and consequently required careful nursing to restore him to health and soundness. "During the next two years he was kept apart from other young stock, and was constantly fed and petted by the farmer and his family. At the beginning of the fifth year, when he had been broken and was in his best looks, a dealer from London came down and bought him for a handsome sum. "When he had been sufficiently prepared for a London show he was sold to a gentleman in Berkshire, who hunted him four seasons, and then, finding he did not like harness, sold him for a reduced price at Tattersall's, and he fell into the hands of a coper, who, finding he would not harness, chopped him away to a salesman. The latter sent him, with several others, to Hull, to be shipped for St. Petersburg. He was on the point of being embarked, when my son, who happened to be at Hull at the time, recognised and, well knowing his intrinsic value, bought him for double the contract price. This was in 1838. He had not been at home a week when he was sold to a cavalry officer, who found him a first-class hunter, and did not regret having given me two hundred guineas for him. "He changed hands several times in the regiment, at various prices, and was finally sold to a young squire, whose effects came to the hammer under the superintendence of the sheriff, at York. At this sale I purchased Latch-key for thirty-seven guineas, and took him for my own riding. "Although much attached to the horse, a very good offer tempted me once more to part with him, in order to effect the sale of several others which had been selected, provided he were thrown in. "This time he went to London again, and was broken to harness, and sold to a noble lord, who took him to Edinburgh. Here he met with an accident through collision with a tradesman's cart, which disfigured and lamed him for a considerable time. Whilst under treatment of a veterinary surgeon, an intimate friend of mine, and belonging to my neighbourhood, finding the horse would be sold for 'a song,' purchased him for me, and sent him home, where he soon recovered, and resumed his place as my hack. This was in the year 1845.